Born in Surrey, England, Johns began his decades-long career as a tape operator at the famed Olympic Studios in London, where he worked on sessions for the Jimi Hendrix Experience's "Axis: Bold as Love."

"In those days you could go into one studio and Joe Cocker was working, and then you're working with Jimi Hendrix in Studio One, or down the corridor Eric Clapton is doing something," Johns once said of his early Olympic Studios days, according to Billboard. "It was a serious center. A lot of talent was there."